- Enforcement Directorate charged three Gameskraft founders for laundering proceeds from cheating rummy players
- Chargesheet names Gameskraft, RummyTime, founders and associates for laundering Rs 19,984 crore in commissions
- Gameskraft's addictive gaming led to repeated wagering, with assets worth Rs 1,906 crore attached by the ED
The Enforcement Directorate filed on Saturday a chargesheet against three of the founding directors of Gameskraft, an online gaming company, and other individuals, alleging that they were involved in laundering criminal proceeds from "cheating" rummy players on their platform.
Under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the investigation agency detained Vikas Taneja, Prithvi Raj Singh, and Deepak Singh Ahlawat in May. But in June, the Karnataka High Court ruled that their arrests were illegal and unlawful.
According to officials, the filing of the chargesheet against the three was a legitimate exercise because there was no prohibition on filing a prosecution complaint (chargesheet) against them, and the ED is getting ready to fight the HC judgment against their arrest before the Supreme Court.
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The chargesheet names Gameskraft Technologies, RummyTime Technologies, the three founders, and those connected to them as suspected of laundering money obtained by "cheating" players of online real money games (Rummy games). The chargesheet was submitted to a Bengaluru court on July 25, according to a statement from the ED.
According to the agency, the investigation is based on several police FIRs that were filed in Telangana, including a few instances where individuals committed suicide as a result of "financial and psychological distress" brought on by their addiction and financial losses from these games.
"The total proceeds of crime generated by these accused companies in the form of commission is Rs 19,984 crore for the financial years 2017-18 to 2025-26 (till 22/08/2025)," according to the ED.
In a statement released on Friday, the agency claimed that Gameskraft's "addictive" gaming environment encouraged users to engage in "repeated wagering" and that it had attached new assets worth Rs 1,906 crore.
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Bank and fixed deposits, mutual funds, convertible notes, equity shares, a farmhouse, and numerous residential and commercial real estate properties held in the names of Gameskraft Technologies Pvt. Ltd. shareholders, their families, private family trusts, and related entities were among the assets that were provisionally attached, according to the statement.
In August 2025, the Union government of India outlawed online money gaming.
In this instance, the total amount of assets seized, frozen, and attached is Rs 2,401 crore.
(With PTI inputs)
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